


The lost star

by Aarashi



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace Lives, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brothers, Dressrosa Arc, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Time Skip, Post-War, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:49:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22619833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aarashi/pseuds/Aarashi
Summary: “But you’re dead.”“That’s my line!”Or how Ace ends up in Dressrosa, when half of the world saw him die, and how he finds Sabo there, when half of the world don't even care.
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace & Sabo
Comments: 11
Kudos: 172





	The lost star

“I don’t like this, yoi.”

The Birdcage above their heads was moving at a slow but steady pace. Its strings shone under the bright sun. It would be a pretty amazing view, if they ignored the terrified screams and the damages in the buildings.

“I find it quite interesting, though.” He couldn’t suppress a grin.

“You’re having fun with this, aren’t you, yoi?”

“Well, I found a beautiful irony here. See, you are probably the only human-bird in this island, so this cage suits perfectly on you. And still, you are probably the only person in this island who can get out of here alive.” He made a pause. “You can, can’t you?”

“I hope so.” Marco didn’t seem too worried when he stared at the strings. “It’d probably hurt, but nothing that cannot be healed, yoi.”

“Glad to hear that.”

Marco let out a soft sigh when he saw him searching for something (or someone) in the distance.

“Remember what we talk about, yoi? If you let somebody see you, we’d be screwed. Specially you.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t cause any trouble.”

“You said exactly those words before you enter in the Colosseum and spread chaos, yoi.”

“Well, that was different!” he protested. “They had that false fruit and my brother was there fighting for a lie and… I just couldn’t take that.”

His eyes had darkened. Marco sighed again and put a hand on his shoulder. He approached his head to the other one’s ear.

“Be careful, Ace,” he said, in a low voice. “There’s at least an admiral in this island. We can’t let them catch you again, yoi.”

“They won’t.” His voice was cold.

“I know.” Marco smiled and squeezed his shoulder. “See you in the beach in an hour, yoi.”

“Got it.”

Marco patted his back before going away. Ace looked at his surroundings before adjusting his hat and his coat. Wearing the clothe was asphyxiating, and he didn’t like having his hat covered, hiding the bright orange, but he didn’t have a choice. Marco was right: he couldn’t let himself get caught. Not again.

He rushed while he interned in the chaos Dressrosa had turned into. There were people screaming, marines trying to set some order, pirates fighting. He tried to ignore them all. He had a clear goal and he certainly didn’t have much time; the sooner he met one of them, the better.

By that time, Ace had seen some familiar faces in the screens of the city, when Doflamingo had made the announcements. Of course Luffy was there, along with part of his crew. He knew his brother was going to fight Doflamingo and he had no desire of joining him (of course he wanted to join him; damn, he wanted to fight at his side and make sure he was okay), but the rest of the Straw Hats were also somewhere in the city. Finding one of them shouldn’t be too hard. It’d be easier for everyone to just wait for Luffy to end the fight (because his brother would win) and search him later, but Marco would laugh at the suggestion. No, that was not the plan. They didn’t have that time. Give a vibre card to Zoro, Usopp or one of the other two Straw Hats with a message for Luffy, leave and wait. If they got out of that alive, they could meet again. Ace kept repeating that to himself.

He was about to jump to one of the roofs, so he could have a better view of the streets, when someone running in the opposite direction stumbled into him.

“Hey!” Ace turned around out of reflex.

“My apologies, sir…”

The guy in question was wearing a long, black coat and a hat, hiding his face. Ace frowned when he saw the cravat; people in Dressrosa certainly had a strange sense of fashion.

_It nearly seems like…_

The guy had stopped in his heels. Ace saw a pair of blue eyes under the hat studying his face intensely and he tensed. Shit. If somebody recognized him, he would definitely have problems and Marco would definitely sigh and tell him that he couldn’t be left alone (which was totally unfair).

He waited, but the guy, who was around his age, was still staring. Ace saw a scar surrounding one of his eyes, which his blond hair couldn’t totally hide. Ace blinked. For a second, he stopped hearing the chaos of the city.

For some reason, he thought about Goa Kingdom.

_What are you doing?_

The chaos came back, but only partially. He thought he should be running, searching for Luffy’s friends. He should be making sure that guy, whoever he was, hadn’t recognized him. But the only thing he could do was staring.

And then, the guy, ignoring the chaos, took a step forward. Ace thought his movements were elegant. Even though his expression belonged to someone who was seeing a ghost. Even though his eyes seemed suddenly so young.

And familiar.

But he couldn’t be.

When he spoke, his voice reminded Ace of something. Something he hadn’t heard in a lot of time.

“Ace.”

The chaos had left and the only thing that remained were the kids they had been.

“Sabo?”

His name came to his mouth so easily, even though it had been so many years, even though sometimes he had thought he had forgotten it, that it was nearly unfair. How a name (how _his_ name) could shake his entire body and burst it into flames and then stay with him under the starry sky.

_Sabo_.

Ace thought he could see the entire ocean in those eyes.

But it couldn’t be. No matter how much he wanted it to be, it couldn’t be. No matter how much he remembered their treasure and their shelter and their flag and the little crew they had been, it couldn’t be. He was dead.

_But I was, too._

Ace stayed silent. And then that boy, who had Sabo’s eyes and Sabo’s face and, man, he was even wearing a hat with goggles similar to the ones Sabo had worn, spoke again:

“But you’re dead.”

Well, Ace definitely hadn’t expected that.

“That’s my line!”

Sabo grimaced and touched the brim of his hat.

“I saw… The newspapers said you were dead.”

“Dogra saw _you_ die!”

Sabo grimaced again and that time his eyes seemed to break, the ocean taking a step back. He lowered his head.

“I’m not dead,” he said in a low voice.

“Well, I’m not, either.” Ace shook his head in disbelief because of the absurd of the conversation.

Sabo’s mouth’s cornered lift. For a second, Ace was pretty sure he was going to say something cocky, but all he obtained was silence. Ace took a step forward

“You’re alive,” he said, just to be sure.

“Yeah,” Sabo smiled, the ocean came back and greeted him. “And you are alive, too.”

“Yeah.”

Well, that was a start.

Ace charged against the ocean and this answered fiercely.

He saw himself wrapped in his arms, his body, his voice. He heard him and smelled his scent, so different and yet so familiar. He _felt_ him, right above his skin and underneath it and right inside. As he had been there forever, as he had never been gone. Ace kept hold of him and didn’t let go.

For the first time in years, he smiled like the child he once had been.

It was like taking a deep breath after an hour without realizing he had been under the water. Like finally putting up a flame and winning against the storm.

Like finding a star he had thought forever lost.

“You damn bastard,” Ace mumbled against his neck, when he found his voice between the waves. “You disappeared for twelve fucking years.”

“Sorry.” Sabo’s voice was low and serene, it had the strength of the sea. It was free. “I’m so sorry. When I read the newspaper…”

“I wasn’t able to do anything back then…”

“… everything came back but it was too late…”

“… I’ve imagined it so many times it’s like I was there…”

“… I’ve thought every single night about that…”

“… about how I didn’t do anything to stop it…”

“… about how I regretted not being there…”

“… because I wasn’t strong enough.”

Sabo tightened the embrace firmly. Ace felt it and felt the waves and the sun and the stars in his skin, and he clenched his teeth. Damn, he didn’t want to cry.

“I’m sorry, fuck, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m the one who should apologize.”

“Yeah, you definitely should,” Ace laughed against Sabo’s shoulder and through his own tears. He sensed his brother relaxing under his arms. “It was awful without you, you know. We missed you so much.”

“I missed you too,” Sabo whispered, and now he sounded more like the noble child who just wanted to be free. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I should have gotten you out of that hell.”

“The same goes for you, two years ago.”

Ace remembered the fire, the blood. The war. Luffy searching for him, screaming his name. His father being stabbed, yet standing. The roar of the sea, to which he would never return.

He took a breath.

“But we didn’t die,” he said, and that way he remembered himself.

He felt Sabo smiling. The hug softened and they broke apart, but Sabo retained one hand behind Ace’s neck. He was smiling, a safe smile that Ace wondered where it came from, where it had been born, how many people had seen it before he had. How many more he would see from now on.

“And we won’t die,” Sabo stated, and Ace, who didn’t believe so easily, thought any king would surrender to follow that order.

They remained that way for a while, with no sea under them and no stars above, but with both beating in their skin. Around them, the city fought and cried. Then Ace remembered why he had gone there in the first place, and apparently so did Sabo.

“Koala is gonna kill me.”

“My whole crew is gonna kill me.”

Sabo shook his head.

“I win this time, believe me.” Ace wanted to ask, but Sabo didn’t give him a chance. “Now, before we part…”

“There’s something I have to ask you.”

Sabo looked at him. And if Ace had missed many things about Sabo, the resigned gaze he was giving him right now _(he had given him so many times in the past, when they were young and careless and free)_ was definitely one of them.

Ace reached the beach nearly one hour later. Marco didn’t look amused at all.

“What took you so long, yoi? And what are you doing without the coat? Wait, have you been crying?”

Ace beamed.

“Yeah.”

“_Yeah?_” Marco raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “Do I wanna know?”

“I’ve just met my other brother. We both thought the other one was dead.”

“Oh,” Marco said, because there wasn’t much he could answer to that. He looked sideways at Ace. “Can you tell me about that when we are back on the ship, yoi?”

“Sure! I’ll tell you everything about our adventures.”

Marco seemed stunned for a moment. Then he asked:

“What about the vibre card? Did you find one of the Straw Hats, yoi?”

“Nop, but it’s not a problem, Sabo will take care of that. He promised,” Ace said, with a determined expression. Then his eyes softened, and his voice hided the teasing of a ten years old when he added: “I can’t wait for Luffy to see us.”


End file.
